Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan has shared the harrowing details of his health battle. Watch below:
As his health declines, the 83-year-old said he has ‘zero body fat’ after he was put on steroids, which have left him feeling ‘held together by string’.
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The beloved actor also admitted he wishes he could spend his final years in Australia where he was born but said he feels he cannot leave his son behind.
Hogan – who recently had a pacemaker fitted - has been living in Los Angeles with his 24-year-old son Chance.
“I’ve been better,” he told A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw. “I had a problem on the aorta in the kidney and the treatment fixed it, but it shrunk me. I’ve lost all my body fat and the muscles all shrank and the strength has come back, because it left me feeble.
“I get Chance to open jars for me.”
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Despite trying to put on weight, he ‘can’t put on an ounce’ after he was put on steroid treatment.
Hogan said that the steroids ‘shrink your muscles’ and are ‘supposed to make people fat’ but he got ‘thinner and thinner’.
The Golden Globe winner continued: “I’m now in the business of trying to put a bit of fat on, because you feel the cold too much when you’ve got no body fat.”
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He also said ‘quite a few of his friends hate him’ because he attempts to ‘eat everything fatty and lardy you can think of.’ Unfortunately all the fatty foods he craves he’s ‘not allowed to have’.
The Academy Award nominee also suffers with retroperitoneal fibrosis – a benign growth near his kidney.
Hogan’s fans sent their well wishes and concerns on Twitter after watching the interview. “This was so beautiful to watch, thanking you Current Affairs,” one fan tweeted.
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After seeing the star express his wish to return to Australia, another Twitter user wrote: “Come home! You need your network of family and friends too!!”
While another Australian fan said: “@tracygrimshaw What a great interview with #PaulHogan. Admire he is putting his son first and staying in the US when he clearly wants to come home.”
Hogan started his career in 1971 and starred in his own TV series The Paul Hogan Show between 1973-1984.
He appeared in Crocodile Dundee and its sequel in 1986 and 1988 respectively.
Hogan has six children including Chance.
Gregory Robinson